Is Your Pet Business Ready For Summer?

May 31-Jun 6

OPERATIONS Knock out important summer prep, starting with your freezers: Give them a deep clean, schedule professional maintenance and test your temperature alarms — it’s the worst time of year to have a unit fail and not know in time to save product.

Jun 7-13

MERCHANDISING Speaking of summer, a cooling-products display does double duty, also serving as a cooling station for customer pets who come in hot. Build it around demo cooling pads on the floor, have fresh water ready to serve, and include signage that lets customers know you’ll help them find the right size boots for their pups.

MANAGEMENT Plan to debrief after your next big event, sale or typically busy weekend: Note what worked and what bombed. Three months from now you’ll swear it all went well or was a total disaster.

Jun 14-20

COMMUNITY Do you foster cats in store? If not, consider doing so. Such an effort shows community support, plus who doesn’t love saying hello to a kitty while they shop? (OK, so maybe not all dogs … but it’s not always all about them.) You can even extend your theme to the space, such as Firehouse Pet Shop in Wenatchee, WA, did with its Search & Rescue Adoption Center.

Jun 21-27

MANAGEMENT Book an hour with your top two employees. Ask them what’s working and what’s broken. Don’t set an agenda other than that — just listen.

Jun 28-Jul 4

FINANCES Insurance Awareness Day falls on this Sunday. Evaluate your business’s policies, then check in with your agent to ask about discounts and compare with options from other providers because premium creep happens.

MARKETING Analyze your referral traffic on this Tuesday’s Social Media Day. How many visitors does each account drive to your website? Which platform referrals result in the most purchases? Adjust your strategy as needed.

Jul 5-11

BUYING It’s time to start — or continue — planning for SUPERZOO, happening Aug. 12-14 in Las Vegas, NV. Book your hotel and flight if you haven’t already and start planning your attack.

FINANCES Submit any remaining coupons and promotions from the second quarter to vendors as you move into the third.

Jul 12-18

OPERATIONS Do a mid-summer smell check of your business. Is it starting to smell like “hot dog” or another unpleasant odor? It might be time for a deeper than weekly clean.

TRAINING Film one simple employee process. Greeting customers, handling a repair — anything. Make knowledge shareable and cut training time.

Jul 19-25

SELF-CARE Have you taken a vacation yourself this summer? Even if it’s just a short staycation at a local resort, book time to unplug from your business as much as possible and unwind. Your future self will thank you.

STAFF Run a 10-minute “cool head” drill. One employee plays the angry customer, the other practices calm posture and speaking. Better to sweat in practice than freeze in battle.

Jul 26-Aug 1

CULTURE Ask staff for one example of “drama.” If it’s happening, it’s already costing you employees, candidates and probably customers, too. Address as needed.

HIRING If you employ college students, check in to see when they’ll be coming back to school and how many hours their schedule will allow. These “seasonal” employees reduce training time significantly as they already understand how your business operates and your expectations. Simply provide a re-orientation session to cover any changes since last semester.